Course Descriptions

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Art History

Important Note: This is the archived version of the 2012–2014 Graduate Catalog. The information on these pages was archived on August 22, 2012 and will not be updated as requirement and/or program changes are approved.

The Department of Art History offers work leading to degrees at both the master’s and doctoral
levels. The Master of Arts in Art History offers study and research in the
general areas of the history of architecture and art. The Master of Arts in Museum and Exhibition
Studies offers a synthesis of research, scholarly training, and professional practice appropriate to
the professions in the museum and exhibition worlds. The PhD in Art History is designed to
promote intellectual inquiry and provide professional-level training in the discipline, in a
program that provides both wide coverage and particular depth in two broad areas of unusual and
exceptional faculty strengths. These two areas, which encompass the entire faculty, are the
History of Art of the Americas and the History of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism. Students
may also pursue topics that cross both areas of focus or expand beyond them.

Interdepartmental concentrations in Gender and Women's Studies and Violence Studies are available to students in the MA and PhD in Art History.

Admission Requirements

Applicants are considered on an individual basis. In addition to the Graduate College minimum requirements, applicants must meet the following program requirements:

Master of Arts

Baccalaureate Field No restrictions.

Grade Point Average At least 3.00/4.00 for the final 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) of undergraduate study.

Letters of Recommendation Three required from faculty members or others familiar with the applicant’s training, ability, and experience.

Personal Statement Applicants must submit a short statement of purpose.

Writing Sample Applicants must submit a sample of their written work.

Application Deadlines January 1 for applicants who wish to be considered for financial aid from the department, and March 15 for all other applicants.

Doctor of Philosophy

Baccalaureate Field No restrictions.

Previous Degrees Completion of a Master of Arts program in Art History or equivalent is required for admission to the PhD program. However, exceptional students may be admitted directly to the PhD program with a bachelor’s degree, completing the requisite 96 semester credits of courses and the other requirements of the degree, without completing an MA. Students originally accepted in the department for the MA who wish to continue on to the doctorate must satisfy the department’s Master of Arts degree requirements and be recommended by the department for further work. Doctoral applicants who have a Master of Arts degree in a related field may be accepted directly into the doctoral program with the transfer of up to 32 credits toward the doctorate. Examples of appropriate related degrees include: MArch, the MFA in Art, and the MA in such humanities areas as history, philosophy, or literature.

Grade Point Average At least 3.00/4.00 in an appropriate MA from another institution; if applying with a BA, the applicant must have a 3.20 overall and a 3.50 in the major, or approval by the Graduate Program Committee.

Letters of Recommendation Three required, preferably from professors and others who are familiar with the applicant’s potential for serious academic work.

Personal Statement Applicants must submit a short statement of purpose that should address the reasons for wishing to do doctoral work and the relationship of this work to their professional and career objectives.

Writing Sample Applicants must submit a sample of their written work.

Application Deadlines January 1 for applicants who wish to be considered for financial aid from the department, and March 15 for all other applicants.

Degree Requirements

In addition to the Graduate College minimum requirements, students must meet the following program requirements:

Master of Arts

Minimum Semester HoursRequired 36.

Course Work A minimum of 16 hours at the 500-level in art history courses, excluding AH 590—MA Paper Research and AH 598—Thesis Hours. All students are required to take courses from at least four different tenured and tenure-track UIC Art History faculty members.

Required Courses: AH 510 and 511. Teaching assistants are also required to take AH 512. Of the remaining course work selected with an advisor, all students are required to take at least one course in each of the following areas:
Ancient/Medieval/Early Modern (before 1800); Modern/Contemporary (after 1800); and Africa/Asia/Indigenous Americas.

Foreign Language Requirements Students must present evidence of advanced knowledge of a language other than English as it relates to the student’s chosen area of research. Evidence of the ability to pursue research in additional languages may be necessary, depending on the availability of literature in the field selected, and the selection of those languages must be approved by the student’s advisor.

Thesis, Project, or Course-Work-Only Options Thesis or course work only. No other options are available.

Thesis: Must take at least 5 hours in thesis research (AH 598). No more than 8 hours of AH 598 can be applied to the degree.

Course Work Only: Students who do not write a thesis must submit two substantial research papers written in conjunction with graduate courses taken in the Department of Art History to the departmental Graduate Program Committee. At least one of these qualifying papers should have been written in conjunction with a seminar. Each paper must be approved by a faculty member in the Art History Department who has worked closely with the student in revising the paper, which must also be approved by a second faculty reader. Each paper should ask critical questions, use primary sources, and be potentially useful for other scholars; each paper also should be at least equivalent in quantity and quality to an excellent seminar paper or a paper for an academic journal. Qualifying papers should be 25–30 pages in length, but longer or shorter versions are acceptable depending on topic and approach. No more than 4 hours of AH 590—MA Paper Research may be applied to the degree.

Doctor of Philosophy

Foreign Language Requirements Students must present evidence of advanced knowledge of a language other than English as it relates to the student’s chosen area of research. Evidence of the ability to pursue research in additional languages may be necessary, depending on the availability of literature in the field selected, and the selection of those languages must be approved by the student’s advisor.

Course Work Candidates must complete at least 64 semester hours of course work beyond the master’s degree. Of this amount, 32 semester hours must be in graduate seminars, of which 18 semester hours must be taken in the department. At least 32 semester hours of credit beyond the MA degree must be at the 500-level. Of the 64 semester hours required beyond the master’s degree, a maximum of 24 semester hours of dissertation research are allowed.

Required Core Courses:AH 510 and 511; AH 513.

Areas of Focus:The PhD program has two major areas of focus:

Art of the Americas

Architecture, Design, and Urbanism

Students may also pursue topics that cross both areas of focus or expand beyond them. Each student will select 16 hours from seminars: AH 441, 460, 463, 464, 465, 470, 471, 513, 522, 530, 540, 550, 560, 561, 562, 563, 570, and directed reading courses in the area of focus, as approved by the director of graduate studies.

Students who have taken equivalent course work as part of an MA degree may petition the director of graduate studies for a waiver of specific requirements; no course credit is given for a waived course.

Preliminary Examination Required; written and oral, to be taken upon completion of the course work and satisfaction of the language requirement. The written examination will cover the area of focus; the oral examination will be based on the written sections.

Dissertation Required; the dissertation will make a contribution to knowledge in art history and will be publicly defended before the scholarly community.

Grade Point Average Requirement Students must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.00. No credit will be given for a course taken as part of the doctoral program in which the grade earned was less than a B.

Interdepartmental Concentration in
Gender and Women’s Studies

Students earning a graduate degree in this department may complement their courses by enrolling in a concentration in Gender and Women’s Studies after consulting with their graduate advisor. See Gender and Women’s Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences section for more information.

Interdepartmental Graduate Concentration in Violence Studies

Students earning a graduate degree in this department may complement their courses by enrolling in a concentration in Violence Studies after consulting with their graduate advisor. See Violence Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences section or the Jane Addams College of Social Work section for more information.